Last month, the Vivo X80 Pro was unveiled in India. Vivo did not introduce a “Pro Plus” model this year, so the X80 Pro will be the company’s top-tier flagship in 2022 and will replace the X70 Pro Plus from last year.
The Vivo X80 Pro isn’t cheap at Rs. 79,999, especially in comparison to the OnePlus 10 Pro (Review), iQOO 9 Pro (Review), and Xiaomi 12 Pro (Review). However, the Vivo X70 Pro+ set the bar pretty high as arguably one of the best Android flagships of 2021. Can the Vivo X80 Pro, then, meet the same high standards as its predecessor? Stay with us to find out if the Vivo X80 Pro is truly worth its price and if it can compete with Samsung and Apple’s best.
Build and design:
The Vivo X80 Pro’s high-end design is immediately apparent. The rounded edges and obvious curvature of the screen make it easy to hold. The phone can have a glass, ceramic, or eco-leather back panel. Our model, which is the only one available in India, has a matte black ceramic panel with a textured back. A substantial camera island extends across the entire top of the X80 Pro’s back.
The flash module is on the right side of the camera island, and the Zeiss logo is everywhere. Although the X80 Pro’s design may not be for everyone, it was user-friendly and did attract some attention. Even though there is a large camera island, the phone doesn’t move when placed on a surface.
Although I haven’t seen the orange finish, the black model exudes a very sophisticated air, giving the phone a high-end appearance. The X80 Pro also has a sturdy build thanks to its ceramic back, glass protection on the front, and aluminum frame. With a thickness of 9.1 mm and a weight of approximately 220 grams, the phone is somewhat heavy. Additionally, it is water and dust resistant thanks to its IP68 rating.
The standard USB Type-C port and speaker grille are on the bottom of the Vivo X80 Pro, while the power and volume buttons are on the right. The in-display fingerprint reader was also quick and responsive, in my opinion. A charging adapter, a cable, a SIM tray, and a pair of USB-C wired earphones are all contained within the box. In addition, the black case complements the phone without diminishing its premium aesthetic appeal.
Display:
Don’t be fooled by the gorgeous front-facing curved display. One of the best smartphone screens is undoubtedly this one. A 6.78-inch QHD+ AMOLED display with LTPO 3.0 technology is used by Vivo. The 2K screen is said to support HDR10+, have a pixel density of 517 ppi, 10-bit color, and a color gamut that is 100 percent DCI-P3. In addition, the screen is extremely bright, reaching a peak brightness of 1500 nits, making it simple to view content on the phone even in direct sunlight.
But it doesn’t end there. The screen of the X80 Pro has a refresh rate of 120 Hz and an instant touch sampling rate of up to 1000 Hz. When the phone is not being used, the screen can refresh at any rate up to 0 Hz. The default refresh rate can also be set to 60Hz or 120Hz. Additionally, Vivo has included an Eye Protection mode and allows you to manually adjust the color temperatures. Additionally, there is a Visual Enhancement mode that enhances the display’s color and contrast in some images to make them appear more vivid.
The Vivo X80 Pro has some of the typical flagship hardware in terms of performance. The phone has 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. Additionally, the phone comes equipped with a VC liquid cooling solution with a 2691 mm2 vapour chamber, which aids in maintaining the device’s temperature during intense gaming. The hardware in this location should be more than adequate for most tasks.
Nevertheless, Vivo also contributes a custom V1+ chip that serves as both an image chip and a separate display chip. MEMC Dynamic Frame Insertion, Display Effect Optimization, and NR Noise Reduction are all supported by the chip. The V1+ chip supports 120 frames per second gaming in certain games and has better temperature control, a longer stable frame, and lower power consumption. The Vivo X80 Pro achieved a single-core score of 1301 points and a multi-core score of 3311 points in the Geekbench test.
Asphalt 9 was one of the games I tried out on the Vivo X80 Pro: Call of Duty: Legends Attack, Mobile: Diablo Immortal, Apex Legends Mobile, and Shadow Legends. All five games ran smoothly on the X80 Pro. The highest settings and supported frame rates were used to test each title. The phone did get hot after about 30 to 45 minutes of gaming, but this is a common occurrence with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 smartphones. The Vivo X80 Pro is arguably one of the best-performing Android smartphones to date when it comes to performance.
Cameras:
Even though the Vivo X80 Pro has top-notch specs, its quad-rear camera setup is still the phone’s main selling point. A 50-megapixel Samsung GN5 primary camera with an f/1.57 aperture, a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera with an f/2.2 aperture, a 12-megapixel telephoto lens with an f/1.85 aperture, and an 8-megapixel periscope camera with an f/3.4 aperture are all part of the set-up. OIS and Laser AF are supported by the main camera, while 5x optical zoom and OIS are supported by the telephoto shooter. On the telephoto lens with a 2x optical zoom, the ultra-stable gimbal OIS is available.
Let’s start with the Vivo X80 Pro’s main camera, which thanks to its large 1.31-inch sensor captures a lot of light. The camera provides vivid and accurate color reproduction; however, if you prefer a more natural appearance, you can switch to the Zeiss mode for true-to-life colors and more realistic results. The Zeiss T coating also does a great job of reducing glares and reflections.
Back to the main camera, which does an excellent job of capturing detail and dynamic range in daylight. The HDR processing was also excellent, and neither the sensor nor the images were overexposed or oversharpened. In a photo, the subject and background are clearly distinguished due to the sensor’s size. Additionally, the sensor dealt well with noise and did not overexpose dark areas in scenes.
We switched to the ultrawide camera, which worked well in daylight. Even though some subjects appear to be less sharp on the ultrawide than they were on the main camera, good levels of detail were also maintained. The ultrawide unit’s disadvantage was that the main camera’s color temperatures were not always consistent. The ultrawide camera is also a competent macro camera that does a good job of handling dynamic range.
Additionally, the X80 Pro has a periscope camera and a portrait (telephoto) lens. In good lighting, the 12 MP telephoto camera can take stunning portraits. However, even though this is not uncommon with Android smartphones, image quality tends to suffer in more complex lighting. Gimbal stabilization is included with the 12 MP portrait lens to compensate for shaky hands and ensure better low-light portrait shots. When taking portrait shots, the camera does a great job of detecting edges and keeping the skin tones that are natural, but the images do tend to look softer.
Last but not least is the Periscope camera on the X80 Pro, which has a 5x optical zoom and a 20x hybrid zoom. It also has a 60x magnification option, though image quality tends to drop after the 5x hybrid zoom. After the 5x zoom, the X80 Pro was unable to keep up with the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
The main camera on the Vivo X80 Pro takes excellent nighttime photos with no noise and vivid colors. Scenes with a lot of contrast look especially good, and images can sometimes look unnaturally bright, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Because the sensor is so small, it can capture more light than is visible, so even with the smallest light source, it can produce usable results.
The ultrawide camera may not be as effective as the main camera, and good results necessitate ambient light in the scene. In addition, ultrawide images lack detail and occasionally introduce noise into the scene. However, the ultrawide lens does a good job with HDR, and the majority of pictures taken with the X80 Pro turned out better than those taken with the Galaxy S22. The portrait and periscope lenses of Vivo, which provide a good amount of detail and dynamic range, are also compatible with the night mode.
The Vivo X80 Pro can record 4K video at 60 fps and 8K video at 30 fps. The X80 Pro also has different levels of stabilization, with Ultra stabilization locked at 1080p at 60 frames per second and standard stabilization working with both 1080p and 4K video. The main camera’s footage looks good, with good contrast and good details. 8K video is only compatible with the main camera.
Additionally, the Vivo X80 Pro offers a plethora of camera filters that can be utilized in either day or night mode. There is also a high-resolution mode that works with both the main and ultra-wide cameras and can be activated for shots with a more natural appearance. Additionally, 30 frames per second HDR10+ footage can be recorded by the main camera. When compared to the competition, the selfie camera on the Vivo X80 Pro can only record 1080p video at 30 frames per second, which is not very impressive.
The software for the Vivo X80 Pro includes a plethora of camera features in addition to producing excellent images. A Supermoon mode and an Astro mode have been added by Vivo to allow users to capture stunning images of the night sky. Additionally, there is a cinematic video mode with a bokeh effect and a wide cinematic aspect ratio at 24 frames per second. Additionally, there is a Dual View mode that allows you to record video on both the front and rear cameras, as well as a Long Exposure and Double Exposure mode. The X80 Pro also has cool features like AI Group Portrait and Live Photo.
Overall, the cameras in the Vivo X80 Pro produce some of the best photography results available. The best features of the X80 Pro were sometimes superior to those of Apple and Samsung. The video performance, on the other hand, isn’t quite as good as Apple’s best. However, the numerous camera features that are offered here will also be beneficial to users. With the X80 Pro, Vivo’s impressive camera hardware and excellent software are perfectly matched. I can easily see how these cameras will compete with Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi.
Battery:
The X80 Pro has the largest battery in Vivo’s X series with 4,700 mAh, making it the company’s most powerful smartphone yet. The cell conveys the entire day battery duration under moderate and weighty use. The issue of power efficiency was up for debate here. The phone uses a lot of power when it’s not being used, whether you’re looking at pictures or the web. However, gaming and using the camera app take a much greater toll on the battery than is typically the case.
Again, most phones with the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip have experienced this. However, the X80 Pro can be charged 100% in less than 40 minutes with the super-fast 80W charging support when you eventually run out of battery. In addition, the X80 Pro provides reverse wireless charging and 50W wireless fast charging.
Software:
The FunTouch OS 12 skin of Android 12 powers the Vivo X80 Pro. The FunTouch OS version was particularly free of bloat during my brief use of the phone. The skin has a lot of customization options and keeps some of Android 12’s best features.
The X80 Pro comes with four years of security updates and three years of major Android updates from Vivo. While Funtouch OS has evolved over time, there are numerous other Android skins that provide superior features and a more seamless user experience. To compete with OneUI, Realme UI, and OxygenOS, Vivo needs to make significant changes to Funtouch OS.
Verdict:
There is no denying the high cost of the Vivo X80 Pro. The majority of people were amazed by the cameras’ price, despite their admiration for them. However, despite its high cost, you won’t really feel like you’re paying too much for anything here. The X80 Pro can easily compete with the best in terms of specifications. However, Vivo goes above and beyond with the cameras, allowing the X80 Pro to compete with the big boys like the iPhone 13 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Review). Although there are some limitations to the camera system, particularly in terms of consistency, overall, this is arguably one of the best smartphones’ cameras.
The software and selfie departments are two areas where the Vivo X80 Pro could use some improvement. However, compared to the X70 Pro Plus (Review), the Vivo X80 Pro does not quite provide a significant improvement. However, considering that you get a new chipset, updated display, slightly larger battery, faster charging, improved cameras, and a plethora of features for the same price, it is still a worthwhile upgrade. I believe that the Galaxy S22 Plus (Review) and iPhone 13 Pro (Review) do have some cause for concern in light of what the X80 Pro has to offer. The Vivo X80 Pro may just be one of the top three best Android flagships in 2022, despite the fact that there is no clear winner.
